Abstract - The Information Society 22(4)

Household Technology Use: Integrating Lifecycle and the Model of Adoption
of Technology in Households

Susan A. Brown, Viswanath Venkatesh and Hillol Bala

Recently, the model of adoption of technology in households (MATH) was developed
and tested in the context of household personal computer (PC) adoption. In this
study, we apply MATH to predict PC use. We conducted a nationwide survey including
370 households that owned at least one PC. Results indicate that attitudinal
beliefs are extremely important in determining use of a PC in the household.
In contrast to previous work examining adopters, normative and control beliefs
were not significant in predicting use. Furthermore, several determinants of
adoption that were important at different stages of the household lifecycle
were found non-significant in predicting use for the same stages of the household
lifecycle. Overall, the results demonstrate that the belief structure for household
PC use is different from that of household PC adoption. Further, the results
provide additional evidence regarding the importance of including household
lifecycle in studies of household technology adoption and use.